Sportsnet lands Tour de France rights

It seems like Lance Armstrong's alleged cheating to win multiple Tour de France titles has not killed the interest in cycling in North America.

Sportsnet, a Canadian cable sports network, has signed a six-year deal to air the Tour de France exclusively in Canada beginning in 2014 and running through 2019. Currently rival sports network TSN has the rights to the Tour de France.

The Tour de France is the top cycling competition each year worldwide.

In addition to future broadcasts of all 21 stages of the Tour de France, the network has also added the broadcast rights to other grand tours, such as the Giro d’Italia, the Tour of California and the Vuelta a España.

“We’re excited to partner with Sportsnet to bring the Tour de France event to cycling enthusiasts in Canada as we do in 190 countries,” said Yann Le Moenner, general manager of Amaury Sport Organization.

Sportnet is also scheduled to broadcast the first Tour of Alberta in September of 2013.

Interest in the tour rose greatly during his run. Overall, should he be a cycling hall of famer? How do you weigh what he brought to the sport against what how his actions have harmed it? Is it logical to think that without his dominant run TSN and Sportsnet would not care about the event?